Some Va. Cities To Rethink Their Own 'Punch' Ballots

Many of Virginia's largest cities, including Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Norfolk, still rely on a decades-old system of "punch" cards similar to the ones under dispute in south Florida.

Those cards require voters to punch a designated hole next to the candidate of their choice. If the hole is not punched completely, however, the vote may not register with counting machines because of flaps of cardboard called "chads'' that remain attached to the back of the card.

"We've been aware of this situation for years and years," said Ann Washington, the voter registrar in Norfolk. "We try to warn people."

Washington and other election officials said there has been no evidence of major problems with the punch cards in Virginia elections.

In the only recount of a statewide race, the 1989 gubernatorial contest, there were no complaints about the cards and the recounted ballots largely mirrored the original numbers, officials said.

"At the time, we were very pleased with the results," recalled Deborah Altice, deputy registrar in Chesterfield County, outside of Richmond, which also uses punch cards. "It reinforced the idea that the system worked."

But that recount was done by machines, not by hand.

It is impossible to say whether the results would have been significantly different if a hand count had been conducted, as some Florida counties are doing.

Under a hand count, a vote could be tallied if a hole is punched, even if a chad is hanging from the back of the card.

Virginia law calls for the chief judge of each locality's circuit court to establish "procedures that shall provide for the accurate determination of votes in the election."

Norfolk is hoping to abandon its punch cards by next year. The city is considering buying the most modern form of voting devices: touch-screen computers.

The error rate on such machines is practically zero, said Carol Ann Coryell, secretary of the electoral board in Fairfax County, which votes entirely by computer, except for absentee ballots.

"It's very easy," Coryell said. "It's voter- friendly for everyone."

But the machines are expensive. Fairfax, the state's largest jurisdiction, has 810 machines, which cost $5,000 each. Norfolk, which is looking to buy a different model, is considering paying about $2 million for 325 machines.

Most localities on the Peninsula use paper ballots that require voters to fill in an oval to mark their choice of candidates, much like the way students take a standardized test. Those ballots are then read by an optical scanner, which can provide a speedy tally.

That system, known as "Accu-Vote,'' replaced the old mechanical voting machines that required voters to pull a lever.

Neither system is foolproof.

The old lever machines, which are still used in some localities, are no longer manufactured and can be difficult to maintain and store. But they made it impossible to "overvote" by marking the names of two candidates in a single race.

By contrast, voters who mistakenly mark two candidates under the Accu-Vote system end up voting for no one. The machine accepts the ballot, which is then disqualified.

In Hampton, for example, a quick tally of a half- dozen of the city's larger precincts suggests that maybe 600 or more voters citywide- about 1.4 percent of all who voted- had their votes disqualified last week because they voted for more than one candidate for president.

But a state election official cautioned that not all "overvotes'' are errors. Some voters may wish to vote for several candidates as a form of protest.

Election officials in Henrico County, which uses punch cards, have been contemplating buying touch-screen computers. They have not submitted a budget request to the county yet, however, partly because of the price tag.

But after witnessing the mess in Florida, Voter Registrar Janet Coon said, "Maybe this is the year to submit it."

David Lerman can be reached at 202-824-8224 or by e-mail at dlerman@tribune.com